Arguably the messiest season of Netflix’s Love is Blind came to an end on Sunday with its reunion special, bringing key cast members back together for the first time since filming the show to address their storylines and air their grievances. Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, viewers learn that Lydia and Milton are the only couple who not only got married at the altar but who stayed together after filming Season Five. Izzy and Stacy, who have remained friends, also joined to discuss how their relationship dissolved after the show ended. They both said they’re dating new people but wouldn’t get into too much detail about their current partners.

Johnie and Chris make appearances to discuss how they dated for a short period of time before Chris ghosted her, something he apologized for on camera. The two of them are also in new relationships. JP and Taylor showed up to break down how their connection in the pods failed to translate into something tangible in-person.

While the cast members touched on the statuses of their past and current romantic relationships, the reunion also served as an opportunity to address a major storyline and topic that initially shocked fans when they saw the episodes air over the last couple of weeks: Lydia and Uche had dated prior to the pods and once they encountered each other during the experiment, producers told them the only way for them to continue with the show was to keep their previous relationship a secret.

To say there was drama between Lydia, Aaliyah, and Uche would be an understatement. When Milton found out about Lydia and Uche’s past, he was able to move beyond it. But when Aaliyah found out, she and Lydia had conversations both on and off camera that upset her. Uche also accused Lydia of knowing that he was going to be cast on Love is Blind and applied for the show so she could attempt to get back together with him. He also confronted Lydia in a scene on camera, accusing her of stalking him.

At the reunion, Aaliyah showed up and confronted Lydia about whether or not she knew Uche was going to be filming Love Is Blind Season Five. She also addressed her issues with Lydia, saying, “I set my boundaries with Lydia… and she didn’t respect my boundaries. I didn’t think they were going to be continued to be respected throughout and that’s not the type of situation that anybody should have to endure going into an engagement… I didn’t get that respect I was requesting multiple times.” In response to Aaliyah, Lydia insisted she had the best intentions and that she thinks everyone did the best they could in what she described as a difficult situation. Uche chose not to be in attendance.

Aaliyah also said that in an off-camera conversation, Lydia told her that she and Uche both discussed coming on the show. Lydia responded by saying, “In terms of Uche and I, we had a conversation of two seconds in November of 2021. [We said], ‘Oh yeah, I saw the casting, Oh yeah, I did too,’ and that was it. I had, and I’m going to make it really clear for the public, for everybody, I had no confirmation that Uche was going to be there… If I had that power, he would’ve not been there 100%.”

Now that the show is over and the reunion has aired, Lydia has more to share about her relationship with Milton, her drama with Aaliyah and Uche, and how she’s responding to the public’s opinions about her.

You and Milton are the only couple who managed to make it out of this season married and we learned in the reunion that you’re still together. How are you feeling coming out of filming the reunion?
Lydia: I’m feeling great. I’m feeling awesome. I think that it’s the closure that we needed from all this chaos and to actually get our happy ending to a long and tumultuous story. Our relationship surpassed any obstacles and I think it speaks to both of our characters and our relationship. We were able to deal with all that and ended up being stronger and more in love than ever. Milton’s my person, so I am happy, I’m thriving. I feel so good about everything in terms of my marriage. I chose the perfect person for me and I am proud of myself for that and for being able to recognize where in the dating scene I was going wrong and actually landing my husband. That is something that’s not small. 

At this point, you filmed the show so long ago. What was it like for you to watch the season back on screen? 
Lydia: Obviously, production has a job and a task to do and they have to present everybody’s story, not just my story, but I felt like key parts of our relationship and our love story were missing and were not shown. But that’s my perspective and as my smart and handsome husband says, your perception is your reality, and I have a really different perception than what was shown and edited. And you know what? That story is for me and my husband, and you got to see a little bit of that. I am proud of my own relationship with him besides what was shown.

What do you wish viewers could have seen from your time filming that was edited out?
Lydia: In the pods when we were gift-giving, Milton actually brought a gorgeous rock with him and it was an amazing coincidence that he actually fell in love with a geologist. We were nerding out trying to figure out what was in the rock. It was huge and kind of heart-shaped, and we were so in love with the rock and how our story was just meant to be.

When you first met Milton’s family on the show, they were skeptical and asked some tough questions. At the reunion we learned that you’ve become much closer to his family. What do you think about those relationships coming full circle? 
Lydia: They are my support system. They are the ones, besides my own family, who are constantly there for me. His mom has become my second mom. We were on the phone the other day for an hour and a half and I was like, “Oh my god, this is a lot,” and she was just being my support. It feels so good because right now my husband is in Long Beach, he’s not in Houston, so we have been traveling back and forth. When he’s not here in Houston, I have them and they are amazing. They’re my family. I never got a bad feeling about meeting them. I never got that vibe or had that perception. I think their worries and concerns were granted. If you’re not in the whole experiment, there are a lot of questions to be asked and rightfully so. Right now, I love all of them: My sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, my pops. I call him “pops.” I love them all for who they are. Right now they’re calling me like, Lydia, who do we need to fight? 

The experiment was going to be tainted and I felt and I felt that I took a really huge responsibility on my shoulders when I decided to stay and when I decided not to share that story.

A really big storyline this season was between you, Uche, and Aaliyah. At the reunion, Aaliyah said she wishes production would have let you and Uche tell her and Milton sooner that you had dated prior to the show. In retrospect, do you also wish that production would have let you tell Aaliyah and Milton about your past with Uche while you were still doing the experiment in the pods?
Lydia: Yes, I wish I could have, obviously. I was crying [when I found out Uche was there] because I was like, I have to keep this to myself. You don’t have any phones, there’s no one you can call and be like, “Oh my god, this is happening. What do I do?” It’s all about your brain and talking to yourself and trying to find any guidance and knowledge from all of your years of experience with friendships and all that stuff. So partly, yes. However, I also understand that it would kind of ruin the experiment. Aaliyah said at the reunion that she would have distanced herself and would have not been my friend [if she knew] but we formed a bond really early on. We are there three days prior without cameras doing promo stuff and interviews before we started filming and dating in the pods. Since minute one, we were just drawn to each other’s energy. I remember when we first got there in the hotel lobby talking and sharing our similar experiences. I understand that it would have affected the experiment if we told everyone we knew each other because I also formed a friendship with a lot of the girls, not just Aaliyah, and it wouldn’t be as simple as, “Hey, I know Uche and by the way we dated.” The experiment was going to be tainted and I felt and I felt that I took a really huge responsibility on my shoulders when I decided to stay and when I decided not to share that story.

It was an unprecedented situation, for sure. When you found out that Aaliyah and Uche were serious about each other in the pods, was there any part of you that thought your friendship with Aaliyah wasn’t appropriate or that you should pull back from her?
Lydia: I really was not thinking about that because I’m a really truthful person, I’m crystal clear. In that moment, and you all saw it, when she’s hugging me [after she and Uche got into a fight] I realized right there and then she’s really in love with this guy and I have to keep it to myself that I dated this guy. It was really hard and as I said in the reunion, I give myself grace because I handled the situation the best I could and to the best of my abilities. People might disagree with that. There’s nothing else I can do. I cannot go in the past and change how things happened. It is what it is.

When Aaliyah asked you at the reunion whether or not you knew Uche was going to be cast in this season of Love is Blind, you said you did not know he was going to be there. You did clarify that the two of you had a brief, passing conversation about how you both were going to apply. How did you end up getting cast on the show?
Lydia: Through Instagram. A casting manager [reached out to me] and I was like, why not? I think it was in August 2021 if I’m not mistaken, and they put this whole batch of [casting calls] for dating and relationship shows and I put my application in. Months later, one of the casting managers reached out and she was like, “Hey, can I give you the application?” And I was like, “I think I already did.” I was a fan of the show, first and foremost. I love the show and I love what it represented, so of course I was going to want to be in it.

So just to clarify again, you did not know that Uche was going to be on Love is Blind when you applied?
Lydia: I did not know and I want to say this really loud and clear. I did not know that Uche was going to be in Love is Blind Season Five and yes, he is spreading lies.

Uche has shared a lot of his thoughts about filming this season on his Instagram page. One of the things he mentioned is when you go through casting, you’re supposed to give the names and photos of your exes. Why didn’t you both include each other in that list? 
Lydia: During the casting process they ask you for three pictures of you and three different exes and I didn’t have any pictures with him. Honestly, our relationship was more of a situationship. It was like, OK, there’s no one else around, might as well, which was poor decision-making on my part. But we’ve all been there. When we first started dating in 2020, yes, we were dating. After that and after we broke it off, we were just in a situation where we’re just there for each other in that sense. At the end of the day, I don’t know what his obsession is with my relationship and keeping my name in his mouth. Please take it out.

When the cast members reunited for a barbecue in Houston, Uche confronted you in person about watching his followers’ Instagram stories and other issues he had about your relationship. What was that confrontation like for you? 
Lydia: With that situation, I think it was boiling up. I’d heard rumors of him talking about me and I was like, “Wait, what?” Before the barbecue, I had never misspoken about him. The information that I gave Aaliyah was all positive. I even said to her on various occasions, and you guys see it, “Maybe he grew up, maybe he’s changed, he’s matured, he knows how to carry himself,” and then for him to say low blows to me, it needed to happen because that was the closure of that situation. For me, that was closure.

Do you wish Uche showed up to the reunion? What would you have wanted to say to him? 
Lydia: I don’t have anything else to say to him, honestly. He’s spreading all these lies and he knows the truth, which is funny to me because you really are trying to portray this false image. At the end of the day, I went on the show to find my love and I did. I am happily married and that’s all I care about. That’s all that matters.

Are you paying attention to what people on the internet and viewers are saying about you? How have you adjusted to being in the public eye? 
Lydia: People have a lot of time on their hands, let me tell you. People can say whatever they want to say. I don’t judge them. They’re forming opinions based on a five-minute conversation because that’s what they saw, but they don’t know me. I know myself. I know who I am, my family and friends know who I am, and that’s all I care about, really. People really feel the need to go on social media and bully. The other day, I had a situation with a comment where it said something like, “Please take her out of this planet.” I’m like, you don’t know me and I am not this bad person. Actually, I think it speaks more to my fellow castmates who are trying to not respect what we were instructed to do than me and how I’m acting. I’m trying to keep my composure in all of this. I am not interested in the drama. I’m not interested in the negative aspects of it. I’m choosing to remember the experience in a positive light because I ended with the best outcome I could: my husband.